Archive for December, 2015

There have been persistent rumors that Sean Payton may be leaving New Orleans. He denies this saying he just built a home in New Orleans etc, but they always deny stuff like this. Though even considering going after Payton would be a departure from TT’s “stay the course” mentality, I think everything needs to be on the table right now. Payton interviewed here when McCarthy was given the job. I don’t know the full background but I remember for some reason that we did like Payton. I think Payton’s aggressiveness would play well in Green Bay after a number of years with relatively conservative coaches. And I think he could really bring out the best in Rodgers and the offense.

There is something seriously wrong with this Packers team. Their 10-5 record is incredibly deceptive. I went back just now and looked at the teams the Packers have played this year. They beat Seattle and the Chiefs yes, but that was when both teams were playing positively awful – getting crushed by weak teams. And their other wins came against very bad teams (Rams, Chargers, Rams, Bears, Lions, etc). But the most telling thing when looking back at the teams they’ve played is the complete and total no-shows the Packers have pulled against good teams: Denver, Carolina, and Arizona. This Packers team didn’t deserve to be on the field with any of the 3 of these teams – which of course doesn’t bode well for the playoffs at all.

There is something seriously wrong with Aaron Rodgers. He has been really bad. Yes, the o-line is bad and McCarthy’s playcalling is horrible (as I noted it would be after his first game back – which was against a horrendous Dallas team). But the drop off in Rodgers play is stunning. He’s missing passes he never misses, his instincts seem off and more concerning, it looks like his attitude is getting bad (likely creating some type of fracture within the team). I don’t blame him for being frustrated as he has to be so ticked off when horrible plays are called etc. But his seems to be whining more than in the past.

The offensive line is awful. Yes, a lot of this is set up for failure by having Rodgers drop deep, WRs running horrible routes and the offense being incredibly predictable. But the line isn’t doing its job.

I absolutely don’t understand the use of Eddie Lacy. He had a few nice runs today but he can never get anything going because he’s used in such an on/off fashion. It’s almost like he’s on a carry count (like baseball pitchers being on a pitch count). In fact, that’s exactly what McCarthy did to a fault going the other way (giving him carries when he should have been passing) in last year’s Seattle game. I know there are those that will say “but Andy it’s so hard to call the plays and know who to feature when throughout a game”. My point is simply that McCarthy gets this wrong too much. And I think this team, when we do win, wins despite McCarthy, not because of him.

I worry that what we’re seeing now is that the Packers simply aren’t very good when Aaron Rodgers doesn’t play at a ridiculous level. For a few years there, he was playing better QB than anyone…ever. He really was. But now that he’s become an average game manager, it has exposed just how (below?) average the Packers are as a team.

I can’t watch another game where McCarthy repeatedly drops Rodgers deep in the pocket. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like deep drops if we’re going to try to throw deep. But he drops Rodgers deep nearly every time he passes which makes it super easy to defend. We need quick slants. Even the short passes we do throw take super long to develop – instead of short, quick-hitting slants or outs that good teams run.

There is something going on behind the scenes for the Packers. I suspect a major rift between McCarthy and Rodgers. We’ve talked about this on and off throughout the season and I don’t have any solid evidence backing this up. But we all see the body language and we all know that Rodgers was ticked that Clements lost the playcalling duties. I just think there is something going on that may be too difficult to get past right now and that is a good part of the reason we are struggling so much. If Mike McCarthy is the offensive genius some claim he is, and Rodgers is one of the best QBs in the history of the game as some claim, then why does our offense continue to be so incredibly bad and, far more concerning, why have we made no changes or adjustments to at least make it competent? I am truly no football expert and I am under no illusion here, but I am positive I could come up with a number of other plays to at least try! The plays we’re throwing out there look so similar week to week – and so similarly ineffective. It is shocking really.

While I do believe that more creativity and imagination in the offense could at least get us out of the offensive rut we’ve been in really all season, I do think another smaller piece of all of this is personnel. Watch our WRs, TEs and RBs – they haven’t been getting open all season. Yes, there have been a few games when things have rolled a bit – but that happened against crappy teams. Against competent teams, our guys rarely get open. So the first thing to do is examine the strengths of each guy and figure out more creative ways to get these guys open: from new/different plays, to thinking better about mismatches, to changing the entire tempo to a fast, quick-hitting offense that we’re probably better suited to anyway. (What is with this slow playcalling and Rodgers constantly burning timeouts because he takes the clock to zero?) The bottom line is this – if McCarthy is not finding good ways to use the personnel we have, then TT and staff need to bring in different personnel (or we need to find a different coach that is better at squeezing the talent out of the group he has). The Patriots do this every single year – constantly bringing guys in, a good number of whom actually contribute.

I feel like this year more than any other demonstrates that the “stay the course” mentality that MM and TT have is not the best operating philosophy to have. There is a rigidity about the way we operate that isn’t good – for the same reason it isn’t good for a company to be inflexible and rigid. Being nimble makes all the difference. But Andy, MM has gotten to the playoffs X number of times and we won a Super Bowl etc etc. We had a great year during the Super Bowl year and McCarthy deserves tons of credit for that year for sure. In fact, what was interesting that year is that the team had a huge number of injuries that we overcame by being nimble, making adjustments and coaching the replacement players up. But the sense that we’re a nimble franchise capable of making needed adjustments throughout games and throughout the season started and stopped really in 2010. Since 2010 we have been merely an above average team that fails to show up in the playoffs. All while having the best QB in the NFL.

As much as it pains me to say it, even with Jordy back, I can’t imagine we’ll climb too much higher on the offensive proficiency list – we’re something like 24th or 25th now. There is something seriously wrong with this team and this offense and the only way we’ll do damage in the playoffs is if some major changes are made starting next week.

Just so incredibly frustrating! We do it game after game. We don’t do any short passes or long passes. We drop Rodgers way too deep way too often I just can’t believe the coaches aren’t seeing this. The pass Palmer had to Floyd for 17 yards on a quick slant earlier is the EXACT kind of play we need to do more of. Why can’t our coaches see this?